<p>Well, let's say you are "fairly" interested in something and have a 4.2 GPA but want to raise it even further. Let's say the class is something like Chemistry Honors (The highest level Chem offered at your school) and there is only 1 teacher who teaches it and people say that he is incompetent. Let be elaborate "incompetent" a bit: he doesn't teach that much in class because he rambles about irrelevant topics and his labs aren't really geared toward gaining something significant in Chem. Since he doesn't explain how to do the labs, they are fairly hard to do and write up; they don't seem to have purpose. He gives out tests and quizzes often and periodically that relate to everything he SHOULD have taught and that his students SHOULD know. </p>
<p>Given everything said above, would YOU take his class just for the GPA boost (on a 5.0 scale), for the chem knowledge that you'd probably "self-studied", and mabye for the experience of survivng the class taught by such an "horrible" teacher. </p>
<p>Is taking the class really worth it if you have already stacked upon yourself with 5 or so APs? If you are aiming for schools such as Stanford, UCB, and other well-known schools and are planning on applying to a Science, Pre-med, or engineering major would not taking chemistry honors make a difference in how the adcoms view you? Would taking this class suck up too much time that you could have used studying for your APs, SATs Is and IIs?</p>
<p>Yes everyone, I'm in the situation of choosing whether or not I should take this class when almost everyone I've talked to claims that the teacher is "terrible" and that they wouldn't reccomend taking the class. Should I suck it up and take it? What would you do??</p>
<p>EDIT: Also, here's a little background information: No I haven't taken any type of chemistry at all. I've taken AP Physics (5), Biology, and I will be taking APES and AP BIO next year.</p>
<p>I have, two years in a row. Our science department is absolutely terrible (almost all of our teachers are like the one you described), so it wasn't really a choice. I had to take a science class.</p>
<p>I wouldn't take the class for the GPA boost, though. I would see it more as an incentive to self study the subject, something which I otherwise probably wouldn't do. It wasn't much of a heavier workload than the other 4 APs+Debate work would have been, so that wasn't really an issue. As for admissions, I can't say that one class will make the difference between acceptance and non-acceptance, but Chem Honors probably looks better than just Chem.</p>
<p>u realize you just described it as really hard because your teacher sucks...so that isnt gonna boost much unless you can get an A, which your doescription should break your confidence a little in that.</p>
<p>As long as its an AP and I get a nice A, i dont care if he doesn't even have class.</p>
<p>Colleges dont care if your teacher is hard/easy and frankly have no way to verify, so they just see your course name and GPA, and mabye a rec. if you choose him. As long as I get a A, screw school.</p>
<p>i'm in a similiar situation. My AP us history teacher ( that i will have next year), is absolutely horrible. He doesn't really teach, all he cares about is getting his next paycheck. To illustrate how horrible he his, i'll post the APUSH scores stats:</p>
<p>many people don't why he still works at my school. </p>
<p>HOWEVER, despite how incompetent he his, i will still be taking the Course, for three reasons:</p>
<p>1) It's 1 out of the 2 AP's juniors can take ( and i want to have the most rig. courseload offered at my school (for HYP).</p>
<p>2) I want to remain valedictorian ( so i need that weighted class)</p>
<p>3) I want to prove that i can still get a 5 on the exam, despite the fact that he is a horrible teacher ( so i'll self study a lot of the info.)</p>
<p>in conclusion, i encourage you to take the class. It will help your gpa and inevitably your class rank. Also, it will show that you took the most rigorous courseload available at your school. And, just because he his a horrible teacher, doesn't mean you can't learn stuff on your own. good luck in the upcoming school year :)</p>
<p>Okay, so it wouldn't really matter if I took Chem Senior year right? I might think of doing that to even the rigor. Also, does Chem overlap much with Bio/APES? Would it be of any benefit to study them all concurrently?</p>
<p>Nucleus: it seems all posts are leaning one direction. You want more input -- or do you want someone to post what you might be thinking? (Maybe not to take the class).</p>
<p>You've had eight people read your post and think about it deeply enough to type in a reply to you. I think the consensus stacks up...</p>
<p>you are aiming for schools such as Stanford, UCB, and other well-known schools and are planning on applying to a Science, Pre-med, or engineering major</p>
<p>You have to take the honors chem course. Also, just remember, many, many, many teachers around the nation are like this. Don't think you're the only one. That said, good luck getting the A!</p>
<p>I've had my fair share of Bs and it was mostly because of WONDERFUL teachers yet terrible graders (my Bio teacher graded on an actual Bell curve to show us "what it was like in the real world".)</p>
<p>Apparently your teacher doesnt know what grading is like in the real world, just go to Harvard and see how there is no resemblance of a bell curve there! 50% of grades are A'<a href="mailto:s@Harvard">s@Harvard</a>. Your teacher is a harder grader than harvard professors! :P</p>
<p>I wouldn't take the class if there was a better, more interesting options. You could always do the self study you would have ended up doing for the class anyways, and then take the AP test on your own; it would probably look better than the slight GPA bump taking the class would give you.</p>
<p>Wait so you're saying that I should self study without the class and just get the AP grade? I thought that taking the classes would be more efficient because you get GPA credit for your hard work.</p>
<p>If you could replace chemistry with a challenging, worthwhile class. I guess taking both the class and the AP test would be most efficient, but studying for the AP chemistry test on your own would show a drive that colleges probably like to see.</p>